Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index falls 12.4% as investors dump a wide range of stocks

TOKYO — Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index fell more than 12% on Monday as investors worried the U.S. economy was in worse shape than expected dumped a wide range of stocks.

The Nikkei index fell 4,451.28 points to 31,458.42 points. It fell 5.8% on Friday and registered its worst two-day decline in history, having fallen 18.2% over the past two trading sessions.

At its lowest level, the Nikkei plunged as much as 13.4%. Its biggest single-day drop was a 3,836-point, or 14.9%, plunge on so-called “Black Monday” in October 1987. It suffered an 11.4% drop in October 2008 during the global financial crisis and fell 10.6% in the aftermath of massive earthquakes and nuclear meltdowns in northeastern Japan in March 2011.

Stock prices have fallen in Tokyo since the Bank of Japan raised its key interest rate on Wednesday. The benchmark rate is now about 3.8% lower than a year ago.

The wave of sales has hit all kinds of businesses.

Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. fell 11%, Honda Motor Co. dropped 13.4%, computer chipmaker Tokyo Electron plunged 15.8%, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group sank 18.4%.